"In 1993... David Koresh was immolated with eighty followers in Waco. Between 1994 and 1997 almost as many members of the chalet-chic 'Solar Temple...' perished in mass murders and suicides, ostensibly 'to escape a fate of destruction now awaiting the whole wicked world in a matter of months, if not weeks'. "

"The Dejiao organizations of Shi Jue Shantang and Xuan Chen Shantang were, among ethnic Chinese in Thailand, second in importance only to the Bao De Shantang (no relation to Dejiao). In addition to the above-mentioned organizations, there are about forty Dejiao groups in Thailand, with most of the members being Chinese originally from Chaozhou. "

"Figures are for BWA affiliated conventions/unions only (no independents included). "; Table with 3 columns: Country, "Churches ", & "Members "; "1997/1998 Totals "; [BWA stats. in individual countries are sum of figures for member bodies of BWA in the countries.]; [County population figures for 1998 from United Nations data available here.]

"The Thai population reached 61.2 million in 1996... "; Pg. 759: "More than95% of Thais are Buddhists, and regional people adhere to their own religious traditions of Theravada buddhism. The mix of Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, and animism is the core of Thai beliefs, cosmology, and cultures... "

Buddhism

Thailand

55,480,000

-

-

-

1997

Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Everything, DK Publishing, Inc.: New York (1997), pg. 160-161.

"There are over 3 million Buddhists worldwide... More than 85% of the population of Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand is Buddhist, as is more than 70% of that in Cambodia, Laos, and Japan. " NOTE: The 3 million figure is obviously a typographical error.

"Baptists (4 groups) 8,000; Pentecostals 6,000; Various Evangelical Churches associated with OMF 2,000+; CMA 1,700; WEC 700. " [It appears that "CMA " here refers to the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In response to my query, the Nance profiles author sent me a note saying CMA is "Christian Missionary Alliance, a denomination with their headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO. " I believe the author simply dropped the 'and' from the name, and is mistaken about the HQ of the CMA, as no such org. is headquartered in Colorado, according to Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions (1991).]

Christianity

Thailand

-

-

-

-

1555 C.E.

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 181.

"In Thailand, whose Christian roots go back to 1555 and which has seen Roman Catholic Christianity at work continuously since 1662 and Protestants since 1816... "

Christianity

Thailand

-

0.50%

-

-

1981

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 181.

"In Thailand... less than one half of one per cent of the nation's people are Christian and less than one tenth of one percent are Protestant. "

Christianity

Thailand

-

-

-

-

1981

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 181.

"Today what had been confined to largely moribund Roman Cathoic and Presbyterian ('Church of Christ in Thailand') forms of Christianityhas begun to reach out geographically to fifty hitherto untouched provinces, reawakened by genuine spiritual revivals, which have in many cases transformed nominal Christians. "

Largest Protestant denomination in Thailand: Church of Christ in Thailand: 26,000 members.

Church of Christ in Thailand

Thailand

-

-

-

-

1981

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 181.

"Today what had been confined to largely moribund Roman Cathoic and Presbyterian ('Church of Christ in Thailand') forms of Christianityhas begun to reach out geographically to fifty hitherto untouched provinces, reawakened by genuine spiritual revivals, which have in many cases transformed nominal Christians. "

"Figures are for BWA affiliated conventions/unions only (no independents included). "; Table with 3 columns: Country, "Churches ", & "Members "; "1997/1998 Totals "; [Listed in table as "12th Pakh (District) Church of Christ in Thailand ". It seems likely that all Church of Christ in Thailand districts are NOT members of the BWA, hence the distinction.]

"Thailand was the second country to which Dejiao was transmitted... Lin Xiuwu... After World War II he visited Shantou on business, where he became a believer in Dejiao. After returning to Thailand he gathered together a number of friends and organized the Zi Chen Ge branch of Dejiao. "

"The Dejiao organizations of Shi Jue Shantang and Xuan Chen Shantang were, among ethnic Chinese in Thailand, second in importance only to the Bao De Shantang (no relation to Dejiao). In addition to the above-mentioned organizations, there are about forty Dejiao groups in Thailand, with most of the members being Chinese originally from Chaozhou. "

"In 1990, the Dhammakaya had some 400 full-time employees, 200 working in the office and another 200 in the garden. In addition to the employees they have a corps of volunteers who reach out to thousands of people. The majority of the persons I met were Sino-Thai academics or business people. They have some 300 monks... "

"In 1990, the Dhammakaya had some 400 full-time employees, 200 working in the office and another 200 in the garden. In addition to the employees they have a corps of volunteers who reach out to thousands of people. The majority of the persons I met were Sino-Thai academics or business people. They have some 300 monks... "

Table: World Jewry. "collected our data from from demographic and other academic studies, community reports, and up-dates in the general media... consulted with experts to verify findings before reaching our assessments and estimates. "

"Current situation: Brutality and systematic human rights violations by the SLORC regime are well documented. The Karenni people are economically and physically repressed. According to Amnesty International Reports 1997, the Karenni people belong to the most targeted communities in Burma (together with Karen, Shan and Mon). During the wave of forced relocations from 1996, it is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 Karenni lost everything ?homes, land and belongings most of them ended up in relocation camps in the state, while some 7,000 others have fled to refugee camps in Thailand. "

Pg. 49: "30,000 or more have been in Laos and 20,000 in Thailand. The Mien refugees in the U.S. fled Laos in 1975... "; pg. 52: "Mien practice animism, with a host of gods and nature spirits. Ancestor spirit rituals are central to Mien philosophy. The living and the dead are interdependent, the well-being of each resting with the other. "

Mrabri

Thailand

-

-

-

-

1981

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 709.

"While their numbers are small, the religions of such groups as... the elusive Mrabri of Yumbri (the 'spirits of the yellow leaves') of northern Thailand... reflect, at least in part, an adaptation to a hunting-and-gathering mode of existence. "

"The Asoke group has five centres in Thailand: Santi Asoke on the outskirts of Bangkok, Pathom Asoke outside the city of Nakhon Pathom, and Sisa Asoke, Sali Asoke and Sima Asoke in the provinces of Sisaket, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Ratchasima, respectively... At the moment the group includes about 100 monks and more than 20 nuns. There are also thousands of volunteers living in the temple compounds. "

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